Created during the height of the Blaxploitation genre, Luke Cage is an ex-convict imprisoned for a crime he did not commit, who gains the powers of superhuman strength and unbreakable skin after being subjected involuntarily to an experimental procedure. Once freed, Cage becomes a "hero for hire" and teams up with fellow superhero Iron Fist as part of the duo, Power Man and Iron Fist. He later marries the super-powered private investigator Jessica Jones, with whom he has a daughter. In 2005, writer Brian Michael Bendis added Luke Cage to the lineup of the New Avengers, and he has since appeared in various Avengers titles, and became the leader of a group of reformed supervillains called the Thunderbolts.

Luke Cage was created by Archie Goodwin and John Romita, Sr. shortly after blaxploitation films emerged as a popular new genre.[2] He debuted in his own series, Luke Cage, Hero for Hire, initially written by Goodwin and pencilled by George Tuska. The character was the first black superhero to star in his own comic-book series,[1] which was retitled Luke Cage, Power Man with issue #17. Cage's adventures were set in a grungier, more crime-dominated New York City than that inhabited by other Marvel superheroes of the time.[2]

As the blaxploitation genre's popularity faded, Cage became unable to support his own series and was paired with the martial-arts superhero whose popularity was based on a declining film genre, the martial arts hero Iron Fist, in an effort to save both characters from cancellation.[2] Though the series title would remain Power Man in the indicia for a while longer, with issue #50 (April 1978) the cover title became Power Man and Iron Fist. It would remain thus until the series' cancellation with issue #125 (September 1986). The series' final writer, James Owsley, attempted to shed Cage's blaxploitation roots by giving him a larger vocabulary and reducing usage of his catchphrase, "Sweet Christmas!"[2]

In 1992, Cage was relaunched in a new series, simply titled Cage, set primarily in Chicago. The revived series updated the character, with Cage symbolically destroying his original costume on the cover of the first issue. The series, written by Marc McLaurin, ran 20 issues. Cage received exposure in other books at the time, including his own serial in the anthology series Marvel Comics Presents. In the aftermath of the "Onslaught" and "Heroes Reborn" companywide storylines, Cage was included in the series Heroes for Hire, written by John Ostrander, which lasted 19 issues.

In 2010, Cage became a regular character in Thunderbolts, starting with issue #144,[3] and continued as leader of the team when the title transitioned into Dark Avengers beginning with issue #175. Cage also reappeared as a regular character in the second volume of the New Avengers series.[4]

Born Carl Lucas and raised in New York City's Harlem neighborhood, he spends his youth in a gang called the Rivals. With his friend Willis Stryker, he fights the rival gang the Diablos and commits petty crimes, often on the behalf of deformed mobster Sonny "Hammer" Caputo.[5] In and out of juvenile homes throughout his teens, Lucas dreams of becoming a major New York racketeer until he finally realizes how his actions are hurting his family. He seeks to better himself as an adult by finding legitimate employment. Meanwhile, Stryker rises through the ranks of crime, but the two men remain friends. When Stryker's activities anger the Maggia crime syndicate, he is badly beaten in a mob hit, saved only by Lucas's intervention. When Stryker's girlfriend, Reva Connors, breaks up with him in fear of his violent work, she seeks solace with Lucas. Stryker is convinced that Lucas is responsible for the breakup, so he plants heroin in Lucas's apartment and tips off the police. Lucas is arrested and sent to prison where contact with his family is sparse due to the resentment of his brother James Jr., who intercepts Lucas's letters to their father James and eventually leads each to believe the other is dead.[citation needed]

Lucas is consumed by rage over Stryker's betrayal and his father's supposed death, engaging in frequent brawls and escape attempts. Eventually transferred to Seagate Prison off the coast of Georgia, he becomes the favorite target of racist corrections officer Albert "Billy Bob" Rackham, whose sadistic brutality ultimately leads to a demotion that he blames on Lucas. Research scientist Dr. Noah Burstein recruits Lucas as a volunteer for a cellular regeneration experiment based on a variant of the Super-Soldier process he had previously used to empower Warhawk. Burstein immerses Lucas in an electrical field conducted by an organic chemical compound; when he leaves Lucas unattended, Rackham alters the experiment's controls, hoping to maim or kill Lucas. Lucas' treatment is accelerated past its intended limits, inducing body-wide enhancements that give him superhuman strength and durability. He uses his new power to escape Seagate and makes his way back to New York, where a chance encounter with criminals inspires him to use his new powers for profit.[citation needed]

Adopting the alias Luke Cage and donning a distinctive costume, he launches a career as a Hero for Hire, helping anyone who can meet his price. He soon establishes an office above Times Square's Gem Theater, where he befriends film student D. W. Griffith.[6] Burstein, aware of his friend's innocence, also relocates to New York and opens a medical clinic, assisted by Dr. Claire Temple, whom Cage begins dating. Although Cage is content to battle strictly conventional criminals, he soon learns that New York is hardly the place to do so. Stryker himself has become a Maggia agent known as Diamondback and dies battling Cage.[7] Subsequent opponents included Gideon Mace, an embittered veteran seeking a U.S. takeover; Chemistro (Curtis Carr), whose Alchemy Gun is a weapon later used by others, including his brother after Curtis reformed; and Discus, Stiletto, Shades, and Comanche, all criminals with ties to Cage's prison days who face him repeatedly over the years.

Although Cage has little in common with most of New York's other superhumans, an ill-conceived attempt to collect a fee from a reneging Doctor Doom leads him to befriend the Fantastic Four.[8] Via a later retcon, Cage also befriends Jessica Jones, a young woman whose superhuman strength and unconventional style match his own.[volume & issue needed] During a mission in which Cage and Iron Man track down Orville Smythe, who had duped him into stealing an experimental starsuit from Stark International, Cage follows the example of his new peers and takes the codename of Power Man.[9] Cage battles a rogue Erik Josten for the use of the Power Man name, winning the right.[10]

Shortly afterward, Luke Cage begins associating with the loose-knit super-team the Defenders, alongside whom he battles the Wrecking Crew[11] and the Sons of the Serpent.[12] Called to assist the Defenders against the Plantman, Cage begins to complain that his participation in their group is interfering with his paying work. Wealthy Defenders member Nighthawk solves this problem by placing Power Man on retainer, giving Luke a steady paycheck for his Defenders activities. For some time thereafter, Power Man serves as a core member of the Defenders. Together, they defeat minor threats including the Eel and the Porcupine, and major menaces such as the Headmen, Nebulon, Egghead's Emissaries of Evil, and the Red Rajah; but Cage feels out of place in the often-bizarre exploits of the Defenders and eventually resigns.[citation needed]

As an African American superhero, Luke Cage’s origin and values are significant to acknowledge in contrast to the depicted origin and values of Steel, another African American superhero of the Marvel Universe. Steel’s story is one that expresses a perfect life within a segregated environment and his values consist of a belief in the legitimacy of the political-economic system; this is a problematic perspective because it ignores important elements of black life which Luke Cage’s origin and values encompass. Steel believes that removing guns will eliminate the violence within inner cities, a belief which ignores discrimination as the motivation/reason for the violence itself. [13] As a character, Luke Cage is aware of the impact of discrimination on black life through his experience being wrongfully imprisoned and through his experience in prison of being assaulted and physically sabotaged by a racist guard.[14] Unlike Steel, whose story development ignores the significance of the character’s double identity as an American and as an individual of African descent, or his “African-Americanness”,[13] Luke Cage’s story articulates this identity powerfully through elements of his performance of the alienated black identity which W.E.B Dubois described in the term double consciousness.*This alienated black identity is depicted in Luke Cage’s lack of a mask, meaning he is always visible, as well as in his embrace of the stereotype of black masculinity His constant visibility means that in he is responsible for the actions he takes to survive. He also does not consider himself a superhero, concluding instead that his powers seem natural and that “superheroing” is his one chance as a big, black man of passing. He embraces the stereotype of black masculinity by performing black male rage in order to outsmart his opponents and occasionally chiding himself for betraying his intelligence.[14]

Having obtained proof of Cage's innocence in his original drug charges, the criminal Bushmaster abducts Burstein and Temple, using their safety and the hope of acquittal to blackmail Cage into abducting detective Misty Knight, who humiliated Bushmaster in an earlier encounter. Cage's efforts lead to a fight with Knight's boyfriend, the martial artist Iron Fist, who had spent most of his life in the extra-dimensional city of K'un-L'un and was unfamiliar with Earth society. Upon learning of Cage's situation, Iron Fist and Knight help him defeat Bushmaster and rescue his friends.[15] Cleared of criminal charges, Power Man legally changes his name to "Lucas Cage".[16] He briefly works for Misty Knight and Colleen Wing's detective agency, Nightwing Restorations, but soon elects to join Iron Fist in a two-man team, Heroes for Hire,[17] founded by attorney Jeryn Hogarth and staffed by administrative wunderkind Jennie Royce. Although the streetwise Power Man and the unworldly Iron Fist seem to have little in common, they soon become the best of friends. Cage's relationship with Claire Temple proves less durable, and he instead begins dating model Harmony Young.[citation needed]

Power Man and Iron Fist achieve great success with Heroes for Hire, earning an international reputation and fighting a wide variety of criminals. Their partnership's downfall begins when the mysterious government agency S.M.I.L.E. manipulates Power Man and Iron Fist into the employment of Consolidated Conglomerates, Inc., which eventually frames Cage for the apparent murder of Iron Fist, causing Cage to become a fugitive.[18]

A fugitive again, Cage breaks contact with his New York friends and relocates to Chicago,[19] but, with Hogarth's help, he is cleared of criminal charges when Iron Fist turns up alive.[volume & issue needed] Cage discovers that Iron Fist had been replaced by a doppelganger of the plantlike H'ylthri race, K'un-Lun's ancient enemies during his treatment. This doppelganger's existence and destruction at the hands of the Super-Skrull are part of a bizarre scheme engineered by Iron Fist's enemy, Master Khan.[volume & issue needed]

Wanting a new start after his murder charge is dropped, Cage abandons his Power Man guise and begins operating out of Chicago as the plainclothes Luke Cage, Hero for Hire; he makes arrangements with the Chicago Spectator for exclusive reports of his adventures and frequently works with detective Dakota North. On his first mission in Chicago, he assists the Punisher in battling drug dealers.[20] Cage attracts the interest of the refined assassin Hardcore, an employee of Cruz Bushmaster, son of the villain whose defeat cleared Cage's name the first time.[21] Cage learns that Cruz, following in his father's extortion footsteps, has abducted Noah Burstein's wife Emma to force the scientist to recreate the process that had empowered Cage. Cruz undergoes the procedure himself, but the elder Bushmaster drains the power from his son, reversing his near-catatonia and declaring himself the Power Master. Cage teams with Iron Fist to thwart their plans, freeing the Bursteins while the Bushmasters apparently perish. Cage's power is augmented further by exposure to the Power Man virus.[22]

While Cage tries to locate his surviving family members with the aid of Dakota North, his brother keeps moving his father around to keep Cage away from them. James, Jr., is eventually recruited by the criminal Corporation, whose power-enhancing scientist Doctor Karl Malus mutates him into the superhuman Coldfire. As Coldfire, James, Jr., hopes to be a match for his brother, whom he regards as a threat. Though James, Jr. works with the Corporation quite willingly, Malus has James, Sr. held hostage as extra insurance of Coldfire's cooperation. When Cage learns the Corporation is holding his family, he invades their headquarters and battles Coldfire. The brothers ultimately join forces to rescue their father from Malus, and Coldfire sacrifices himself to destroy the Corporation's headquarters.[volume & issue needed]

A few months later, Cage investigates the murder of Harmony Young and fights her killer, the demon Darklove, alongside Ghost Rider.[23] The mystic Doctor Druid recruits Cage to serve in his Secret Defenders against the sorcerer Malachi. Cage returns to New York and, deciding his heart is no longer in superheroics, becomes co-owner of the Gem Theater with his friend D.W. Griffith. Even an invitation from Iron Fist to join a new and expanded Heroes for Hire fails to interest him; yet when the Master of the World tries to recruit Cage as a spy within Iron Fist's team, destroying Cage's theater in the process, a curious Cage plays along. Cage joins Heroes for Hire and serves with them for some time while reporting to the Master. Cage begins to sympathize with the more benevolent aspects of the Master's goals, but in the end, Cage can neither betray Iron Fist nor reconcile himself to the tremendous loss of life the Master's plans of conquest will entail, and he helps Heroes for Hire destroy the Master of the World's plans. Cage remains with the group thereafter, and dates a fellow member, the She-Hulk. When the Stark-Fujikawa Corporation buys out Heroes for Hire, Cage and Ant-Man are fired because of their prison records, and the rest of the team quits in protest.[volume & issue needed]

Cage, bitten by the hero bug once more, continues to share adventures with Iron Fist and other heroes. Briefly resuming his Power Man identity, he is hired by Moon Knight to join an unnamed team of street-level New York vigilantes, but mere days after he joins, the group dissolves following clashes with the forces of Tombstone and Fu Manchu. Deciding that a return to basics is in order, he re-establishes his Hero for Hire activities, intervening in a gang war between Tombstone, Sonny "Hammer" Caputo, and Clifford "Clifto" Townsend,[5] and soon learns that, despite his international fame, he is almost forgotten on the streets where he originally made his reputation. He invests his money in a bar and sets about ridding his immediate neighborhood of criminal elements, deciding that the business of world-saving is best left to others.[volume & issue needed]

After a sexual encounter with a drunken Jessica Jones, now a private investigator, Cage's life is briefly thrown into disarray by Jones's reaction to the incident.[24] The two make peace while working as bodyguards for Matt Murdock.[25] Cage extends emotional support to Jones when she is forced to revisit past abuses by the villainous Purple Man, and Cage's feelings for her grow.[26] After Jones reveals that she is pregnant from their tryst,[27] she and Cage move in together.[volume & issue needed] Soon afterward, Jones becomes a superhuman consultant with the Daily Bugle.[volume & issue needed] After she is attacked by the Green Goblin during a Bugle investigation, Cage, helped by Spider-Man, deliberately attacks Norman Osborn in order to provoke him into revealing he is the Goblin.[28]

Months afterwards, Cage is present at the breakout at the supervillain prison 'The Raft' and becomes a founding member of the re-formed Avengers.[29] Luke and Jessica Jones then have a daughter, whom they named Danielle, in honor of Danny Rand.[30] Soon thereafter, he and Jessica are married.[31] He also meets the Black Panther (revealed to be one of Luke's personal heroes), joining him and several other superhumans of African descent on a mission against vampires in New Orleans.[32][33][34]

After the Superhuman Registration Act is enacted, Cage refuses to register, comparing the act to Jim Crow laws. He sends Jessica and his newborn daughter away to Canada where they can be safe, though he himself refuses to leave. S.H.I.E.L.D. forces come to arrest Cage. He fights his way to safety with the help of Captain America, the Falcon, and Iron Fist (posing as Daredevil), and joins Captain America's "Secret Avengers".[35] He fights alongside them in opposition to the act until Captain America surrenders to U.S. authorities.[36]

Following a Skrull invasion, Captain America (James "Bucky" Barnes) organizes a meeting with the New Avengers at his home, offering it as a base of operations.[37] Cage is offered the role as leader of the New Avengers, but turns it down, giving the role to Ronin.[38]

Following the Siege of Asgard, Steve Rogers appoints Luke Cage leader of the Thunderbolts program. Soon after, he begins to recruit new Thunderbolts, a balanced mix of former and older members, personally inducting the Ghost, Moonstone, the Juggernaut and Crossbones, with MACH-V, Fixer and Songbird's cooperation, and using the Man-Thing's powers for long-distance transportation.[39]

Luke Cage on the cover of Mighty Avengers vol. 2, #1 (November 2013) in a costume showing homage to his Bronze Age outfit; art by Greg Land and Lee Duhig.

To convince Cage to rejoin the Avengers, Steve Rogers and Tony Stark sell the newly renovated mansion to Luke Cage for a dollar, allowing him freedom to recruit his own Avengers team and operate without directly taking orders from Rogers, though Rogers insists on having Victoria Hand join them as a liaison. Cage and his team are forced to assist Doctor Strange, Daimon Hellstrom, and Brother Voodoo in thwarting an attempt by Agamotto - the original owner of the Eye of Agamotto - to destroy existence, culminating in the apparent death of Brother Voodoo.[40] Although initially against the idea of being paid for being on the team, Cage is convinced to accept the offer.[41]

Following his imprisonment on Utopia,[42] he decides, following a conversation with Daredevil, to resign from his Avenger duties to ensure the security of his wife and child.[43] After the X-Men are defeated, Cage, Jessica, Squirrel Girl, and Iron Fist resign from the Avengers.[44] In volume 2 of Might Avengers, Luke Cage wears a costume reminiscent of his yellow Bronze Age outfit, with a yellow top and blue jeans.[45]

Luke Cage possesses superhuman strength and stamina, and has extremely dense skin and muscle tissue, which render him highly resistant to physical injury. Cage possesses these abilities as a result of a cellular regeneration experiment which fortified the various tissues of his body. His skin can resist high-caliber bullets, puncture wounds, corrosives, biological attacks, and extreme temperatures and pressures without sustaining damage.[47] A second exposure to said experiments further enhanced his strength and durability.[48]

The same experiment which granted him his great strength and durability has also given him a faster-than-normal recovery time from injury.[49]

Luke Cage is an exceptional street fighter and was a gifted athlete before receiving superhuman abilities. He has also studied martial arts under Iron Fist's instruction, learning how to couple leverage with his strength in order to increase his combat effectiveness against more powerful opponents.[citation needed]

He owns a jacket that is as durable as his skin, having been exposed to the "Power Man" treatment during his second exposure.[48]

In this reality Luke Cage is Power Fist, a mix between the 616 versions of Luke Cage/Power Man and his friend Iron Fist. He is also this reality's leader of the Avengers. He leads them to eradicate the Vi-Locks and his life is saved by Sunfire when she is stuck on his world. He later moves to Quentin Quire's reality to replace one of his selves who had died when he shouldn't have.[51]

After gaining his powers, Luke forms a crime syndicate in Hell's Kitchen, which he later turns into a Human Resistance Movement[52] and recruits several human heroes to his side, including Cloak, who looks up to Luke as a father figure. He is the first person that Layla Miller comes to 'awaken' from the House of M reality and joins the force that takes down Magneto and his children in Genosha.[53]

Luke Cage also has a role in Marvel Zombies 2, joining Spider-Man in fighting against the other Galactus as he realizes that their hunger has faded over time.[volume & issue needed] His lost arm is replaced by a transplanted arm from an unknown being (possibly alien) and his lost lower half is also replaced with a cybernetic one. At the series conclusion, he is transported to another universe which also gets taken by the infection. Cage fights to defeat the hungry zombies of this reality, leading the converted Shi'ar against Earth, but is defeated and killed by the prime zombies of the new world.[56]

A different version of Power Man appears in the Ultimate Marvel universe as a member of the Defenders, although he is never referred to as "Luke Cage".[57] In this universe, the Defenders consist of several people who want to be superheroes but have no useful superpowers, and appear to be more interested in the celebrity aspect of being heroes than actually doing anything heroic.[58] This version originally never had any powers. However, in Ultimate Comics: New Ultimates, he and the Defenders all appear with powers, given to them by Loki.[59]

A teenaged iteration of Luke Cage appears as one of the main characters in the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon series,[62][63] voiced by Ogie Banks.[64] This incarnation is part of Spider-Man's original S.H.I.E.L.D. team (along with Iron Fist, White Tiger and Nova). He adopts the Power Man alias as he feels that he should name himself after his powers. Power Man's abilities are super strength and his unbreakable skin; however, he is not invulnerable as he was able to be gashed by the Rhino in "The Rhino", and proven potentially helpful in containing an infectious Lizard outbreak since his unbreakable skin would make him immune to the Lizards' bites in the episode "Lizards". The episode "The Parent Trap" reveals that Luke received his powers from a S.H.I.E.L.D. version of the Super Soldier Formula developed by his parents (voiced by Phil LaMarr and Kimberly Brooks) and his civilian name is presented here as his actual birth name. He also finds his parents (Walter and Amanda) were working for Scorpio because they were lied to about Luke being captured and promised their son in return. He soon reunites with them at the end of the episode.[65] The episode "Return to the Spider-Verse" Pt. 1 featured a vampire version of Power Man who is loyal to Lizard King at the time when Spider-Man and Kid Arachnid visited this reality. Thanks to a combination of the Siege Perilous shard and a UV light, everyone gets cured of the vampire strain.

Mike Colter portrays Luke Cage in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Luke first appears in the 2015 Marvel/Netflix series Jessica Jones.[66] The character is introduced as a bar owner who Jones meets during the course of an investigation.[67] He was formerly married to a woman named Reva Connors until Kilgrave controlled Jessica Jones into killing her. He later appears as the title character in the 2016 Netflix series, Luke Cage with Cheo Hodari Coker serving as showrunner.[68][69]Luke Cage marks the first time that a black superhero has headlined his own series.[70] For the series, costume designer Stephanie Maslansky changed Luke's appearance from the comics, which she described as "a little silly", to that of an everyman. Maslanksy elaborated, "He's a working class hero, and that comes across in the clothes he wears. He dresses in Rag & Bone T-shirts, in Levis jeans. Clothes that already have this beautiful kind of worn, textured look to them."[71] Maslanksy also stated that Cage's wardrobe, which she described as his "psychological armor",[72] is something the he has in common with his Defenders counterparts saying, "They've all struggled with their past, and none of them really want to be noticed. That's why they choose these everyday clothes so that they don't necessarily stand out in a crowd."[73]

Mike Colter is also set to reprise his role in The Defenders, a crossover miniseries.[67]

Luke Cage appears as a playable character in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2, voiced by Khary Payton. He is locked into the Anti-Reg side during the Civil War portion of the game. His stealth costume from Secret War is his unlockable alternate costume. His default costume heavily resembles his design seen in Spider-Man: Web of Shadows both in clothes and overall appearance.

Luke Cage appears in Iron Fist's ending for Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 as a member of his new Heroes for Hire and a card for the Heroes and Heralds mode. Additionally, his Power Fist counterpart from an alternate universe in the New Exiles series appears as an alternate costume for Iron Fist.[83]

Luke Cage was ranked as the 34th greatest comic book character of all time by Wizard magazine.[88]IGN also ranked Luke Cage as the 72nd greatest comic book hero of all time stating that "Cage embodies much of what we love about Marvel's heroes",[89] and 15th in their list of "The Top 50 Avengers" in 2012.[90]

In her analysis of the comics, Sharon Packer M.D. made connections between Cage's origin story and historical events taking place in the time of the comics' publication. Carl Lucas uses his newfound power to crash through the prison’s cement barricades, he symbolically breaks through barriers that were once closed to him, similar to other black people of his era. Luke Cage’s story has a distinct connection to unethical medical experiments; his comics presumably enhanced awareness of the Tuskegee syphilis experiments that made New York Times headlines in the very same month and year that Luke Cage debuted. Dr. Altman published a book on self-experimentation ethics, one of many texts discussing ethical breaches in medical experiments at that time, meaning that the Luke Cage stories likely picked up on the rhetoric on prison experiments during that time and tapped into opprobrium about ethics. Since his comics were released at the same time that the news broke about the Tuskegee syphilis experiments on black men in Alabama, an event which caused public outrage and swayed public opinion against non-consenting or coercive human experimentation, it can be inferred that Luke Cage’s story influenced some of the aforementioned public opinion.[91]

^In a case of retroactive continuity, this is depicted as the first encounter between Luke Cage and the Black Panther, even though they previously met when all of Earth's superheroes were abducted by the Grandmaster, as part of a cosmic game he was playing with Death. Contest of Champions #1, pg. 16 (June 1982)